September 18, 2024

Over 75 Organizations Urge Biden Administration to Implement Protection Measures for CBP One Users, Changes to CBP One, and Restore Asylum

Human Rights Watch, Sept. 18, 2024 "Dear President Biden, Secretary Mayorkas and Secretary Blinken, We, the undersigned human rights, humanitarian, civil society , and faith-based organizations, are writing to you in response to the recent announcement by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that—as of August 23—non-Mexican individuals will be able to request appointments through the CBP One mobile...

September 18, 2024

New York – Varick Immigration Court to Host Live MHP Event

EOIR, Sept. 16, 2024 "The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) invites interested stakeholders to participate in its live Model Hearing Program (MHP) event on Sept. 30, 2024. The event will be held in person at the New York – Varick Immigration Court, and it will also be offered via Webex. This live MHP event will provide substantive law training pertaining to Asylum, Withholding of Removal, protection...

September 16, 2024

While the Dogs and Cats of Springfield, OH Are Safe, the Haitian immigrants Are Not

Cyrus D. Mehta and Kaitlyn Box, Sept. 16, 2024 "This past week, Trump and J.D. Vance have gone viral for some particularly bizarre rhetoric, alleging that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating people’s pets. On September 9, 2024, J.D. Vance posted on X: “Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield...

September 16, 2024

EOIR Job Opening: Justice Access Counsel

EOIR "Open & closing dates: 09/13/2024 to 10/04/2024 Salary: $147,649 - $221,900 per year The Justice Access Counsel is responsible for the collections and analysis of stakeholder feedback and providing evidence-based recommendations and expert advice on nationwide operations of agency programming to the Office of the Director and EOIR senior executives. Typical work assignments will include: Develops...

September 14, 2024

EOIR Launches Language Access Plan

EOIR, Sept. 13, 2024 "The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) today launched its Language Access Plan . Pursuant to Executive Order No. 13166, Improving Language Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency, each federal agency is required to “examine the services it provides and develop and implement a system by which [limited English proficiency] persons can meaningfully access...

September 12, 2024

Citizen Crime vs. Migrant Crime: Facts

NIJ, Sept. 12, 2024 "[U]ndocumented immigrants are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born U.S. citizens for violent and drug crimes and a quarter the rate of native-born citizens for property crimes."

September 11, 2024

Letter: DHS Violates AI Policies

Paromita Shah (she/her) at Just Futures Law writes: "Enclosed is a letter signed by over 140 tech, immigrant rights, labor, civil rights, government accountability, human rights, religious and privacy organizations to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Mayorkas calling on the agency to suspend and cancel the use or development of any artificial intelligence (AI) technologies used in immigration adjudication...

September 10, 2024

Study: Language Matters

Bill De La Rosa and Zachary Neilson-Papish, Sept. 10, 2024 "The language we use to describe people living in the United States without authorization can reveal our political positions on immigration. ...This post provides the first account of language biases in federal appellate rulings on immigration matters."

September 09, 2024

Family Unity Parole in Place Legal Clinic Toolkit And Video

ABA, Sept. 6, 2024 "**Please note the Family Unity Parole in Place as part of the Keeping Families Together program is currently being litigated. The videos and Toolkit are current as of their publication dates. Please find updated information on the lawsuit here . On August 26, 2024, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, in Texas v. Department of Homeland Security , Case Number 24...

September 06, 2024

Introduction to: Borders and Belonging

UCLA Law, Aug. 2024 " This excerpt is the Introduction to: Hiroshi Motomura , Borders and Belonging (Oxford University Press forthcoming early 2025). Borders and Belonging is a comprehensive yet compact analysis of responses by governments, communities, and people to human migration. It is for a general audience that wants to view migration issues from many different perspectives. Though working primarily with...

September 06, 2024

80+ Organizations Express Objection to Border Act of 2024

Refugees International, Sept. 5, 2024 "United We Dream and the undersigned 83 national, international, state and local organizations write to express our unwavering objection to the Border Act of 2024 (S.4361) . Recently, some have touted this bill as a reasonable piece of policy, worthy of another chance for a vote in Congress. We write this letter to make it clear that we will not allow any elected leader to...

September 06, 2024

Mike Wilson: From Green Beret to Border Activist

Todd Miller, The Border Chronicle, Sept. 5, 2024 "How does one go from a U.S. Special Forces Green Beret in El Salvador to doing humanitarian aid work on the border? This is where Tohono O’odham Mike Wilson begins this podcast conversation, with a profound and personal story of transformation. It happened at the height of the U.S. counterinsurgency campaign in 1989, when Wilson accepted an invitation to eat...

September 05, 2024

The Importance of Immigrant Labor to the US Economy

Kevin Appleby, CMS, Sept. 2, 2024 "As US citizens and residents celebrate Labor Day, it is important to recognize the contributions immigrants—both legal and undocumented—make to the national economy. Legal immigrants work in a variety of occupations, from skilled scientists and engineers to health-care and home care workers. Over eight million undocumented immigrants also provide important labor to...

September 05, 2024

How Luck, Not Justice, Prevails in US Immigration Courts

David Gura, David Fox, Bloomberg, Sept. 3, 2024 "The US asylum process is meant to offer a fair shot at safe haven. But new reporting from Bloomberg uncovers how the difference between those who are granted asylum and those who are denied often boils down to chance. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg investigative reporter Monte Reel joins host David Gura to trace the arc of one man’s journey and...

September 05, 2024

Study: ICE fails to provide detainees with language interpretation required by its own rules

Andrea Castillo, Los Angeles Times, Sept. 5, 2024 "[L]anguage-access failures [are] documented in a report published Thursday that concluded the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was failing to provide adequate translation services mandated by federal law and its own rules. The report, conducted by the immigration clinic at the Cardozo School of Law in New York, surveyed more than 200 detainees and legal...

September 04, 2024

Experts: On Immigration, "Our Country Cannot Afford to Go Back"

Fiona McEntee, Stephen Yale-Loehr & Dan Berger, The Well News, Sept. 3, 2024 "[T]he Biden-Harris administration has put forth a sustained effort to attract and retain global talent, especially those in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This administration has coupled its rhetoric — “America’s greatest strength is our ability to attract global talent to strengthen...

September 02, 2024

Editor's Corner: More Border Musings

Much is being made about the drop in numbers of unauthorized crossings, and asylum requests, at the southern border. Whether the drop is due to recent Biden policy moves, or to other factors, is an open question. The purpose of this post is to explain, in layperson’s terms, why Biden’s Asylum Ban, as I call it, is the same as Trump’s Asylum Ban, and equally illegal.

September 02, 2024

In TV Ad, Trump Lies About Immigration, Harris

Daniel Dale, CNN, Aug. 31, 2024 "A new television ad from former President Donald Trump’s campaign piles deception upon deception to attack Vice President Kamala Harris on immigration. The ad uses an edited quote to attack Harris over a supposed proposal that she hasn’t actually made."

August 30, 2024

Podcast - Author of Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands, Sarah Towle

"Sarah Towle joins The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about her book "Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands" where she writes about how unwelcoming our government is to people fleeing danger and seeking refuge at our border with Mexico."

August 29, 2024

Beyond the “Black Jobs” Controversy: Immigrants and U.S.-Born Black Workers Share a Growing Jobs Pie

Valerie Lacarte, Ph.D., Aug. 2024 "The charge that immigrants are taking jobs from U.S.-born Black workers has made its way from conspiracy circles to the broader public conversation this election season. Several economists have refuted this : they say that despite persistent discrimination and systemic issues, Black Americans are facing one of the best job markets in recent times as a result of historically low...

August 29, 2024

Editor's Corner: A Word About the Border

I have some thoughts for the Harris/Walz team, the Supreme Court, Congress, DHS, DOL, and DOJ regarding the border. Please consider subscribing to my free Substack . Comments welcome via Substack, Threads, X or LinkedIn. Thank you. Register! Vote!

August 27, 2024

From Visa Overstay to American Citizen (and Acclaimed Restaurateur)

Eric Asimov, New York Times, Aug. 27, 2024 (gift article) "Arjav Ezekiel rose through the restaurant ranks becoming a sommelier and opening Birdie’s in Austin, Texas. Few knew of his past as an undocumented immigrant."

August 26, 2024

New Report Exposes Rampant Abuse in Louisiana ICE Immigration Jails

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the ACLU, the ACLU of Louisiana, Immigration Services & Legal Advocacy, National Immigration Project, Aug. 26. 2024 "A coalition of immigrants’ rights groups including Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights , the ACLU , the ACLU of Louisiana , Immigration Services & Legal Advocacy , and the National Immigration Project today released a new report documenting widespread abuse...

August 26, 2024

Parole in Place – A Means to an End or An End in Itself?

Cyrus D. Mehta, Kaitlyn Box, Aug. 26, 2024 "On June 18, 2024, President Biden announced new measures aimed at ensuring that “U.S. citizens with noncitizen spouses and children can keep their families together”. One of these measures provides a discretionary grant of parole in place (“PIP”) to individuals who: are present in the United States without admission or parole; have been continuously...

August 26, 2024

Experts: Challenge to Biden's "Keeping Families Together" (Parole in Place) Program May Fail on Standing

Andrew Kreighbaum, Bloomberg, Aug. 23, 2024 "About half a million immigrants married to American citizens are expected to qualify for the program—dubbed Keeping Families Together by the Biden administration—launched Aug. 19, along with another 50,000 immigrant stepchildren. ... The states bringing the lawsuit argued that they would suffer “considerable financial injuries on education, health care...